LAOAG, ILOCOS NORTE – Premier Volleyball League president Ricky Palou was more than satisfied with how the league’s maiden professional conference turned out during its Open Conference bubble in Ilocos Norte.
“Everything worked out well sa awa ng Diyos we survived. All of these natapos namin yung tournament and everybody at the end of the day was happy na natuloy at natapos,” sighed Palou in an interview with reporters inside the PVL bubble on Saturday.
After a full month of action-packed volleyball, Chery Tiggo came out victorious after completing a reverse 2-1 sweep of Creamline – the undisputed queens of the PVL back in the semipro ranks.
The Crossovers bagged the Open Conference title through a hard-fought 23-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-8, Game Three victory in the best-of-three finals at the PCV Socio-Civic and Cultural Center on Friday evening.
Struggles Inside the Bubble
Despite the successful inaugural season, the league had its first share of problems during the staging up until the final moments of the tournament.
The PVL experienced its first major concern when a member of the Perlas Spikers’ non-playing staff tested positive to COVID-19. This forced the league to alter its already tight schedule.
“Everything worked well.
“Ang pinaka problema dito is yung if any of the teams get infected or even the staff. Yun ang malaking problema so talagang sinabi namin sa teams magingat ng magingat kayo kasi oras na may infected na player or team titigil tayo,” said Palou.
Perlas came back after missing a week’s worth of matches. They played back-to-back matches during the elimination campaign.
After the Perlas incident, the league went through another hurdle when the COVID-19 cases in Ilocos Norte took a huge rise, forcing the PVL to compress its schedule at the request of the local government.
The league was left with two options at the least. And that is to play in back-to-back matches to finish the league before August 16 – the date given by the LGU or to find another place to hold matches.
Fighting against time, the league decided to talk to the teams about playing back-to-back matches, thus removing the supposed rest days every Saturday of the week. To their delight, the teams took the challenge head-on and agreed.
“The problem is cases still starting to go up and then eventually sabi ni Governor [Matthew Manotoc], I have to declare ECQ already by August 16.
“So sinasabi niya you may have to look for another place to play, to finish your tournament. So pinagaralan namin yung schedule and sabi namin may mga break tayo, rest day alisin natin ilaro na natin lahat para matapos tayo before August 16. In fact, yung pinaka latest sana August 13 which happened,” he said, as the finals match between Chery Tiggo and Creamline ended on the said date.
“We talked to the government, if you end before August 16 that’s fine. We met with the teams sinabi namin yung problema sinabi namin sa kanila kung gusto nila ituloy ito or itigil na natin ‘to uwi na tayo. Yung teams naman lahat tapusin na natin maski na araw araw yung laro,” he added.
Palou also lauded the teams for adhering to the strict quarantine protocols. That, for him, was one of the main reasons that kept the league running.
Next Conference
Palou shared that the league is looking at either October or November for the league’s second conference. However, everything is still up in the air due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the Philippines.
“We’re looking at another conference sometime in October or November,” said the Sports Vision Management president.
If the second conference pushes through, Palou bared that they are looking to hold the tournament inside Metro Manila but still in a bubble setup. The long-time volleyball official cited the PBA’s situation right now as one of the main reasons why they are considering the bubble setup.
With Metro Manila under ECQ, the PBA, who is currently in a closed-circuit setup, was forced to postpone its tournament and is now looking to turn into a full bubble in Pampanga.
“Depending on the situation of Manila diba? If we’re allowed to conduct another conference gusto na namin sana sa Manila pero iba-bubble pa rin namin kasi from the experience of PBA medyo mahirap yung ginawa nila so gusto namin sa Manila para hindi masyadong mahirap para sa mga tao,” said Palou.
“Gusto namin sa Manila pero bubble type pa rin. We’re looking at baka yung bubble type namin is kanya kanyang teams. Walang labasan kasi si Sta. Lucia may hotel naman sila, yung dalawang teams ni Rebisco may hotel din parang quarters, para venue back to the quarters. Yung working staff talagang ikaquarters namin yun.”
Still, everything will depend on the recommendations of the Inter-Agency Task Force and the local government units involved.
“Yun yung pinaplano namin but of course everything will depend on the IATF and the LGUs that are involved.”
Areas of Improvement
Palou was the first to admit that the league had its fair share of lapses during the restart of Philippine volleyball.
That is why he stressed the importance of a challenge system following a number of controversial calls during the Open Conference. According to him, the league was supposed to have a video challenge during the Ilocos Norte bubble.
“We need a video challenge.
“You know what happened to the video challenge was siguro mga January or February sinabihan ko na si channel five na bibili na kami ng sarili naming video challenge, sabi nila.‘Sir hindi na, kami na ang bibili we’ll prepare for that.’ So hindi na kami bumili, at the end of the day hindi rin pala sila nakabili,” shared Palou.
“So that’s why we had to continue with the games without the video challenge. But as you can see, very important talaga yung video challenge because there were some calls na controversial but walang magawa because sabi ng referee ganun, sabi ng line judge ganiyan. So there was nothing they could do about it,” he added.
Rest assured, the PVL is already looking for possible solutions to address the officiating woes that transpired in the Open Conference so that the teams and fans can enjoy quality matches in the games to come.
“We feel that it’s a very important instrument that we should have in our games so this time around, we will make sure that we’ll get the video challenge.”
